Fourth Street Fantasy, Franco-fête
Goodness me, I'm tired. Sadly the timing didn't work out, so I'm going to miss attending Fourth Street this time around. Wishing all my friends who aren't missing it a good time. In some cases, I'll have the chance to see them again at Farthing, which everything is booked for, and less is happening around it than this year's Fourth Street, so it's likely that I'll make it there. Come to think of it, who of you are going to Farthing this year?
You can answer the poll here, or there. I'm reading both. I can't seem to get the lj poll to display correctly. Go vote there.
View poll on Dreamwidth: Going to Farthing Party?
On the plus side, my being in town means that I'm not missing the 30th annual Franco-Fête at Harbourfront this weekend, and I've got the opportunity to go to the beginning of Pride Week.
In a semi-intersection of the two, I just got back from seeing talented, queer, Quebecois musician Arianne Moffatt's (who you might remember from an earlier post) headlining performance at Franco-Fête. She's years older than she was in that video, and consequently less pixieish, but still has fire, good humour, and stage presence. For once I didn't have serious complaints about the sound in a live concert. The lyrics were clear, each instrument could usually be distinguished if one wished to do so. The keyboard was a bit crunchy in places, but it worked. I think that the bass drumpad was overdriving the speakers in one song, but not overwhelmingly. From a voice technique viewpoint, her voice cracked several times unfortunately, but the crowd didn't seem to mind. Her new album MA, which I think I'm going to pick up, came out a little while ago, and she did some new stuff, but also modified older work - including Montréal, the video for which is below. Which reminds me, Catherine Durand's first album in four years is coming out in a couple of months too. Her song Encore Là was a comfort years ago, and it still speaks to me. Which puts me in mind of where I'm going to buy them. I still miss Librairie Champlain. It was the only sizable local-ish specialty Franco-Ontarian bookstore/music store with people who actually knew their stuff that I knew of. Online shopping just isn't the same.
After the concert I picked up something to eat from partner restaurant Crêpes-à-GoGo, who, more than a dozen years later still make some of my favourite crepes. Owner Véronique was there working tonight, and she remembers one of my old high school teachers by name. Apparently he was delighted when they moved back to the neighbourhood from their Yorkville location. They still only employ francophone staff, and still sell crepes street vendor style (i.e.: no plates, no cutlery, just wrapped in paper to eat as you go).
Actually, much as I say that Toronto doesn't really have francophone neighbourhoods, that area West of U of T actually isn't bad. Along with the above, along Harbord, there's Loire, Chabichou, and Tati Bistro. And when I'm in Chabichou, it seems like half the clientele speak French. That said there's nothing saying that they're from the neighbourhood. Being close to the subway, it's easy to have patrons who come from some distance. I'm hardly local to them, but I'm there every few months.
Montréal - Arianne Moffatt
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This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth at http://seabream.dreamwidth.org/26969.html, where the entry has
comments. You can comment at either site.
You can answer the poll here, or there. I'm reading both. I can't seem to get the lj poll to display correctly. Go vote there.
View poll on Dreamwidth: Going to Farthing Party?
On the plus side, my being in town means that I'm not missing the 30th annual Franco-Fête at Harbourfront this weekend, and I've got the opportunity to go to the beginning of Pride Week.
In a semi-intersection of the two, I just got back from seeing talented, queer, Quebecois musician Arianne Moffatt's (who you might remember from an earlier post) headlining performance at Franco-Fête. She's years older than she was in that video, and consequently less pixieish, but still has fire, good humour, and stage presence. For once I didn't have serious complaints about the sound in a live concert. The lyrics were clear, each instrument could usually be distinguished if one wished to do so. The keyboard was a bit crunchy in places, but it worked. I think that the bass drumpad was overdriving the speakers in one song, but not overwhelmingly. From a voice technique viewpoint, her voice cracked several times unfortunately, but the crowd didn't seem to mind. Her new album MA, which I think I'm going to pick up, came out a little while ago, and she did some new stuff, but also modified older work - including Montréal, the video for which is below. Which reminds me, Catherine Durand's first album in four years is coming out in a couple of months too. Her song Encore Là was a comfort years ago, and it still speaks to me. Which puts me in mind of where I'm going to buy them. I still miss Librairie Champlain. It was the only sizable local-ish specialty Franco-Ontarian bookstore/music store with people who actually knew their stuff that I knew of. Online shopping just isn't the same.
After the concert I picked up something to eat from partner restaurant Crêpes-à-GoGo, who, more than a dozen years later still make some of my favourite crepes. Owner Véronique was there working tonight, and she remembers one of my old high school teachers by name. Apparently he was delighted when they moved back to the neighbourhood from their Yorkville location. They still only employ francophone staff, and still sell crepes street vendor style (i.e.: no plates, no cutlery, just wrapped in paper to eat as you go).
Actually, much as I say that Toronto doesn't really have francophone neighbourhoods, that area West of U of T actually isn't bad. Along with the above, along Harbord, there's Loire, Chabichou, and Tati Bistro. And when I'm in Chabichou, it seems like half the clientele speak French. That said there's nothing saying that they're from the neighbourhood. Being close to the subway, it's easy to have patrons who come from some distance. I'm hardly local to them, but I'm there every few months.
Montréal - Arianne Moffatt
Uploaded by x-MmM-x - See the latest featured music videos.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth at http://seabream.dreamwidth.org/26969.html, where the entry has
comments. You can comment at either site.